RhondaMum: The Mourning of Poe's Raven

It's weird, the way my creative brain works sometimes. I have become obsessed with Victorian Mourning practices. Most think it is very morbid, but why? It's a loved one who has passed, and your heart hurts. Now granted, mourning the dead and wearing black clothing for two years is a little too much for me. But the rememberance, I feel, is a way to embrace that loved one and keep them close to you. But obviously it needs to be done in a healthy way.

When my cat suddenly died last year, I felt much better leaving him there on my studio floor looking as if he were asleep. I didn't want to put him outside right away. I was crushed, and the fact I could look over at him, pet his fur, and cry made me feel comforted. The Victorians weren't morbid. They comforted their sad hearts.

So when I saw that Alpha Stamps was going to carry these wonderful Black Chipboard Ravens, my obsession with these black beauties started to fly wildly through my artistic mind. I would LOVE to do a Raven rescue or a Crow for that matter. Beautiful birds.

When you have a chipboard Raven, and then Edgar is thrown into the mix, of course you are going to combine the two. All of my Victorian Mourning braided hair treasures then made their way into the mix. Thus, the Raven, dressed in black with it's black floral broach and a lock of Poe's hair. Actually it is mine from my last haircut. I wanted to make something and guess this is one of the places it was supposed to go.

You can see below why I have hair on the brain. I recently put my collectioun of Victorian mourning broaches and buttons in the glass topped box. Inside there are death announcements, pictures and more.

"Jewelry was limited to jet, a hard, black coal-like material sometimes combined with woven hair of the deceased".

Did you know that there are coffins with viewing windows built in? I didn't either but saw one once and stored it away in my mind for later use. There was a time that safety coffins had a window and a bell attached so those who had not really passed, could ring for help. "The American horror writer, Edgar Allen Poe, also seemed unnaturally preoccupied by thoughts of being buried alive as the subject appears with some frequency in his own writings".